1 in 5 of all babies in Britain are born to immigrant mothers

1 in 5 of all babies in Britain are born to immigrant mothers

Last updated at 15:56pm on 11th December 2007 Comments (15)

More than 20 per cent of all births last year were to women from overseas an official report on the impact of migration revealed today.

The study, by the Government's National Statistics body, shows that about 150,000 foreign-born women gave birth in Britain last year, or 21 per cent of all births.

Other findings reveal that while fertility rates are rising, the biggest families are being born to migrant mothers.

The highest birth rates are among Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi-born mothers - who accounted for five per cent of all UK babies last year - with mothers from EU countries outside Britain and Ireland accounting for a further four per cent.

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About 150,000 foreign-born women gave birth in Britain last year (photo posed by model)

Today's findings come in a report by National Statistician Karen Dunnell focusing on the impact of migration on birth rates and the population.

Previous research has found that about 70 per cent of the current growth in the population - which is predicted to rise by more than 10 million by 2031 - is the result of migration, either directly or via higher birth rates.

Ms Dunnell said that 1.8 million foreign-born women of childbearing age arrived in Britain between 1996 and 2006, while 1.1 million similarly aged British females left the country.

She states that this alone would have led to a higher proportion of births to foreign women, but points out that higher birth rates among migrant females are also pushing up the population.

As a result, whereas in 2001 15 per cent of all UK babies had foreign mothers, this figure had risen to 21 per cent by last year - meaning that around 150,000 of the 749,000 births last year were to foreign-born mothers.

Other figures in today's report show that while the fertility of UK-born women has risen to an average of 1.7 children last year - from 1.5 in 2002 - births among migrant mothers are higher with a current average of 2.5 children per person.

No analysis of whether the foreign-born mothers are English speaking, or how long they have lived in the UK, is contained in the report.

The large number of births to overseas mothers will, however, add to the debate about the impact of migration on public services, particularly schools and the health service.

Other statistics in today's report state that the average age of birth has risen to 29, compared with 27 in 1981, although as well as a growth in births among older women there has also been what is described as an "unexpected" increase in fertility among younger females aged 20 to 24.

Ms Dunnell suggested that this appeared to be driven by births among British-born mothers, rather than migrant women.

Overall, the report said that migration has been the "predominant driver of population change" in the UK over the past five years and has been responsible for adding around one million extra people to the total number of residents since 2001.